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Sunday, April 06, 2008

Bible park is wrong on so many levels

Let's face it, theme parks are risky propositions. It does not matter if the park is bible based or based on the latest cartoon series. Theme parks fall into the "high risk" business category. High risk is rarely in the public interest. Conservative investments serve the public, high risk investments often hurt the very communities who pander to them.

A bible park in Rutherford County (think Ten Commandments) is a Christian political statement funded by the public.

The Industrial Development Board passed without any recommendation a plan to create an economic impact zone around the park allowing property taxes from that area to help fund the $150 million to $200 million development.

This simple act allows public money to flow into the proposed bible park development. The Industrial Development Board also passed a plan to forgo $27.9 million dollars in property tax income to help fund the park. So, public money will flow into the park in form of tax dollars, and the public will be denied funds, in the form of tax breaks. All for an openly religious institution. Rutherford County might as well be funding a church. The county hopes to receive $122 million in income from its investment. Of course, they believe the developers growth projections...

Those figures are based on the developers' projection that at least 1.5 million visitors will come to the park annually after it is open for five years, and that the number of visitors will grow to about 2.5 million annually after 20 years

1 comment:

Let's remember that the longest and most detailed description of ANY animal in the Jewish Scriptures was having to do with "dragon" leviathan (Job 40-41). Other names were behemoth, rahab and tannin. The latter seems to be a general word for them as a group. Curiously, it is the term used in the very first chapter of the Bible. Actually, tannin were the animals created first according to Genesis. In Job 40, G*d calls behemot as the first animal come up with.